It is no longer news that the large section of the Lagos-Badagry road is a complete right-off. The real situation this time around that is that a lot of businesses are suffering with commuters along the corrodor counting their loses on minute-by-minute basis as it takes almost five ours travelling from Badagry to Lagos Island where the access even exists.
Worst on this axis which appears not to bother both the state and the federal governments despite the regular occurances of road crashes are the casualties that occurs so often that are most times not captured and documented by the concerned authoritis as a result of failed portions of the road and lamenations,
On daily basis, the story of despair, disenchantment and frustration rign supreme in the psych of commuters, yet, it remains a big surprise that, both the Federal and Lagos State government under the control of the same party; the All Progressives Congress are not giving the required level of attention to this all important corridor that connects Nigeria to its West African neighbours.
Only last Wednesday, the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) announced the commencement of repair works ffrom Okokomaiko section to Agbara section of the Lagos-Badagry expressway raisng further question as to what would happen to the Agbara-Badagry section of the highway which has become travellers nightmare
Nurudeen Rafindadi, managing director of FERMA had assured during the start of the general maintenance of the Lagos-Badagry-Seme dual carriageway, Okokomaiko-Agbara sections at Igbo-Elerin on the highway assured motorists of speedy completion of repairs on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
He said that both the Federal Government and the Lagos State government were doing repairs of the highway simultaneously from three sections to reduce hardship on the road. Rafindadi said that assured strict supervision of the rehabilitation works will be followed, saying that the contractor was on the ground and ready to quickly complete the work.
He said that the Federal Government also had plans to remodel the section but was working on modalities for the relocation of gas pipelines, communication cables and other utilities in the Right of Way (RoW) portion of the project.
He said that the government awarded the contract in May and was committed to making the portion under contract from Igbo-elerin to Agbara junction motorable.
Rafindadi said that the contract sum was about N3.6 billion. He said that measures were in place to ensure that the rainy season does not affect construction works.
He disclosed that for the next 12 km, FERMA will be doing repair maintenance works on the road and that the job will be done within the next six months to one year.
Mike Ochonma
